Conventional thermoelectric cooling techniques may be used to cool a flow of a beverage or other types of fluids. Generally described, a beverage heat exchanger may be thermally coupled to a cold side of a thermoelectric cooling device and a heat sink may be thermally coupled to a hot side. Electric current flowing through the thermoelectric cooling device causes heat to be absorbed from the cold side and released on the hot side. The beverage thus may flow through the beverage heat exchanger and exchange heat therein. Ambient air may flow through the heat sink and carry away the rejected heat. The heat sink generally must be warmer than the temperature of the ambient air for efficient heat rejection. The rate of heat rejection therefore may be proportional to the difference in temperature between the hot side of the thermoelectric cooling device and the ambient air.
Issues with known thermoelectric cooling devices include the fact that the cooling generated by the thermoelectric cooling devices may decrease as the hot/cold temperature difference increases. For example, there may be little to no cooling capability once the hot/cold temperature difference is greater than, for example, about fifty degrees Celsius (50° C.) or so. The efficiency and the amount of power consumed by a conventional thermoelectric cooling device also may be an issue.